today I had a new practice session and I tried to implement all the good suggestions from my last practice clip( at least I thought I tired...):
1.do the split step more realistically
2.stay closer to the baseline and move in to take the ball early
3.be there as early as possible with adjustment steps to be well positioned and balanced
4.hit more towards the sidelines instead of up the middle
5.hit more spins

I have no suggestions, but I enjoyed watching that vid. Hopefully I might learn something from it. I especially like your backhand preparation and stroke. Forehand is also so much better than mine. I think I might appreciate what I have to improve on to approximate your nice stroke. Nice arm extension and follow through (my main problem).

I would guess that you are competitive at a fairly high level (compared to me). What is it?

Anyway, judging from the vid, I would have to suppose that you will figure out what you might do to improve, and then do it.

Even on the non-running ones Your left foot sometimes leaves the ground on yyour forehand and i don't think that is giving your proper balance. I'd imagine if you keep it on the ground and really push off that back foot and rotate you'll be able to hit better. You were doing it correctly on some stokes. I'd just keep both feet on ground.

Baby steps right before you get to ball, especially on the move you have to take those baby steps to adjust. You never know 100% exactly where that ball is going to be and where your body is. Those baby steps allow you to properly adjust.

These were two tips I have for hitting on the move.

(1) try turning your body while on the move, i'm sure you have tried those karaoke warm up steps its similar, but I don't believe most rec players will actually rotate their body as they are running to prepare for impact. You might start taking your racket back while moving but i'm actually talking about rotating your core.

(2) don't be afraid of taking things early. Work on your timing and see if you can interest the path of the ball. Rather than move parallel with the baseline take a more direct path to the ball as it should be a shorter distance (depends on shot) ex. player hits cross court shot to my forehand, rather than move parallel with the base line i take a step in and cut off the ball. I take time away from the opponent and its a shorter path for me. Of course this doesn't work for down the line shots as distance would be the same. Just don't be afraid to take the ball early.

I think your speed is OK, it's the way you get there off balance that bother's me. Off balance as in leaning back on the forehand and very stiff on the backhand side.
What bothers me more is that you hit up the middle, while your partner is running you around. Your problem in match play is that you hit up the middle, just like this vid, so you are basically playing a match just like you practice.

I think your speed is OK, it's the way you get there off balance that bother's me. Off balance as in leaning back on the forehand and very stiff on the backhand side.
What bothers me more is that you hit up the middle, while your partner is running you around. Your problem in match play is that you hit up the middle, just like this vid, so you are basically playing a match just like you practice.

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hi LeeD,

this vid includes two drills. the first half is that I was trying to hit both fh and bh to my partner's fh side, and he moves me left and right.

the second half is that I was trying to hit both fh and bh to his bh side, and he moves me left and right.

yes, you are right. my fh crosscourt shot is always up the middle, I can't hit it with sharp angle while on the move. this is one point I was trying to work on in the drill.

I think you're not split stepping correctly. As your opponent contacts the ball, you should be in the air at the peak of your split step, such that by the time you land, you know which direction to push off. But since you've already set a playing pattern (fh-bh-fh...) you're always on the move to the anticipated direction. There are a few split steps but they are almost all biased towards the anticipated direction. At 1:00, that split step was more a jump towards the forehand you know you'll be getting. The best split step IMHO is the one at 0:17 because it's more "neutral" than the rest but it's still biased towards the bh. It may work for this drill but in real matches you'll easily be wrong footed.

Personally, if there is one aspect I want to improve on, I'll do a real drill (i.e. having someone feed me balls and doing the same thing repetitively) instead of practising with rallies as you did. So if I want to practice hitting on the run for my forehand, I'll stand on the ad side and have my partner feed a ball to the corner on the deuce side. After hitting, move back to the ad side and repeat. It's not as fun as rally practise but I find it more productive since I can focus on honing one aspect at a time and keep the momentum going rather than distracting myself with too many changing variables, such as poor returns from partner, changing grips from fh to bh etc. Once I've gotten the hang of things, I'll mix them up (e.g. one fh and one bh) but still with fed balls to limit the variables. Then maybe get your partner to feed you balls randomly to your fh and bh. Always split step as if you don't know where the ball will be coming to next. I know it's challenging to convince someone to do drills with fed balls with you. It would be good to find a partner who has something he wants to work on and you guys can take turns to feed balls to each other

You have much greater spin potential on the forehand than you are exhibiting here. This drill is more than "a footwork" excersise. It's neutralizing/defense work. As such, you want to MAXIMISE your spin rate. This is when we need "margins" the most (while under pressure).

Right now, you are kinda "easing thru the ball" for control, and I would suggest you accelerate (increase RHS) and wipe across the ball more. Do the same drill and try and operate at top end RHS, using topspin to draw the ball back into the court.

this vid includes two drills. the first half is that I was trying to hit both fh and bh to my partner's fh side, and he moves me left and right.

the second half is that I was trying to hit both fh and bh to his bh side, and he moves me left and right.

yes, you are right. my fh crosscourt shot is always up the middle, I can't hit it with sharp angle while on the move. this is one point I was trying to work on in the drill.

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I was having this problem too. The main things that cured this for me was getting there early already set up and really exaggerating my hitting angle/contact point. I really carve the ball towards the cc fence and sometimes even make sure i get on the outer side of the ball to get my racket face looking cc. All in all, get there early and make sure you have room to get your racket facing where you want it on contact. I actually figured this out when I was working on moving around my serve and found it useful.

It was a Derp/duh moment. "Face the racket where you want to hit it at contact." .... Derp. But i was thinking too much about too many other aspects of my game and my opponent to even notice. Rally with a purpose!

We are all what we practice.
Apart from warming up, never hit the ball up the middle, except to start a rally.
Once you get up the middle practice ingrained, you will always hit the ball up the middle in match play when the point get's tight and the counting begins.

Aside from hitting up the middle too much, I think you need to spend some time taking balls earlier. You camp way behind the baseline and hit passively even on rally balls. As you get better and start playing better players you will be rushed a lot more. You might as well start practicing hitting on the rise now.

I think you are hitting well and you move well. If I was to say anything, (I'm not a qualified coach) but I think if you rotated your trunk a bit more on your open stance forehand, you may be perhaps able to hit the ball more across, providing you hit it early enough.

Dude, your ball striking is pretty clean, but there are a couple small things I can see. You are cheating yourself by running through your split step because you already know where the ball is going. It is supposed to be an agility/footwork drill I am guessing.

Next comment would be on your court depth. Way too deep as the other guy is not hitting with any consistent depth or pace. Try and stay a little tighter on the baseline and use the court to cut off the angles (moving up and back).

Lastly, you get a little lazy with your take back at times and could be the reason you find it a little difficult to go cross court at times . It makes you a little late, maybe, causing you to go too much up the middle.

For what it's worth, it is not a bad session by any stretch, but these couple small things will help you improve quickly, but more importantly, take time away from your opponent.

thanks for all the great suggestions.In my next practice session, I will try to:

1.do the split step more realistically
2.stay closer to the baseline and move in to take the ball early
3.be there as early as possible with adjustment steps to be well positioned and balanced
4.hit more towards the sidelines instead of up the middle
5.hit more spins

looking much better in the second one
i wonder if you took the time to check the video link i gave, and if so what you thought about it. i find it gives lots of useful info about footwork, helped me enormously

looking much better in the second one
i wonder if you took the time to check the video link i gave, and if so what you thought about it. i find it gives lots of useful info about footwork, helped me enormously

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hi, thanks for the link.

actually, I watched that video the moment it was released by FYB. although I admit it is helpful, personally I would prefer the Jezgreen's way of explaining footwork. the "modern footwork" seems to focus more on how to transfer weight into shots, but less on lateral movement patterns. maybe my understanding is wrong.

actually, I watched that video the moment it was released by FYB. although I admit it is helpful, personally I would prefer the Jezgreen's way of explaining footwork, or the . the "modern footwork" seems to focus more on how to transfer weight into shots, but less on lateral movement patterns. maybe my understanding is wrong.

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whatever helps i like the FYB videos, because they focus on specific steps and they provide a good way how to learn them and incorporate them into your training.
didn´t know about jezgreen, but will look into his site

on my fh or bh, or both? do you mean more shoulders turn? or do you mean only turn shoulders but less hip turn to create the coil?

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fh and bh.
turn your shoulders more than your hips. currently your hips and shoulders are at the same degree of rotation. turn hips and then turn the shoulders more than your hips. coiled. like a wound up spring. your partner is doing it. then when you swing push off legs, then hips turn, then shoulder turns, then arm flings around. in that order.
right now you are like one piece all stuck together as if your shoulders are glued to your hips. slowwwww and no power that way.

whatever helps i like the FYB videos, because they focus on specific steps and they provide a good way how to learn them and incorporate them into your training.
didn´t know about jezgreen, but will look into his site

actually, I watched that video the moment it was released by FYB. although I admit it is helpful, personally I would prefer the Jezgreen's way of explaining footwork. the "modern footwork" seems to focus more on how to transfer weight into shots, but less on lateral movement patterns. maybe my understanding is wrong.

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i´ve looked into jez greens info and it seems really good. i certainly make sure to study it in detail over the coming days.
auzoux focuses a lot on stepping inside the court, which you´ve already identified as something you want to incorporate more, so i think it´s useful for you to study it more
using halfcourt tennis to work on your steps is something i do a lot, to move from understanding to mastering footwork skills

i´ve looked into jez greens info and it seems really good. i certainly make sure to study it in detail over the coming days.
auzoux focuses a lot on stepping inside the court, which you´ve already identified as something you want to incorporate more, so i think it´s useful for you to study it more
using halfcourt tennis to work on your steps is something i do a lot, to move from understanding to mastering footwork skills

once you´re used to halfcourt tennis, it is actually easier to work on specific steps because the speed is much slower.
check out the vids to get a visual explanation. much better than me trying to explain things in my limited english

What do you think of Jez's power step for a running forehand? I've been using this method for the last 2 years. But in the last month or so I've been hitting the running forehand off of the other leg like most of the pros do today to compare the two.

Which do you teach your students to use? Is there a situation where you should use one over the other?

^^^Well these days it's totally irrelevant for my teaching (my players don't use their legs!), but when I do work with able-bodied players I really like the powerstep for very wide balls (and the return of serve on a wide serve actually). I think where possible you should always look to line up the outside foot behind the ball, but when really forced wide or short of reaction time (returns) then the powerstep is a great tool to maintain good posture to recover quickly. One thing to remember, you're not hitting off the cross-over leg, you're still initiating the stroke off the outside foot, the inside foot crosses over during the push out to the ball.